Matty can’t get enough of Rowdy Herrington’s dark, Promark-backed thriller.

The third and final pair-up to date between helmer Rowdy Herrington and star James Spader following Jack’s Back (1988) and The Stickup (2002), I WITNESS was, like The Stickup, produced by Steve Beswick’s Promark Entertainment Group. In relation to Promark, I Witness is the high point in a cluster of top-end programmers bankrolled by the shingle that were all made within the same period (think One Way Out (2002), and the Anthony Hickox triple whammy of The Contaminated Man (2000), Last Run (2001) and Federal Protection (2002)). I Witness also serves as one of the last features Promark assembled before shutting shop. As for Herrington and Spader, the film ranks as the slightest in their teamings, what with the actor having a smaller, near throwaway part and all. However, in terms of Herrington, I Witness might just be the best and most well-rounded picture on his resume, trumping even the mighty Road House (1989).        

Bold and confident, Herrington shepherds the film with authority and composes a wealth of stylish and visually interesting images. Crisply lensed by Michael G. Wojciechowski — who’d shot the aforementioned Last Run and supervised second unit on Federal Protection — Herrington keeps the camera moving. Restless and twitchy, it’s always prowling, digging into the nitty-gritty of scenes and harmonising with the fizzy, uneasy energy invoked by I Witness’ chaotic setting (Tijuana, Mexico — in actuality, the film was photographed in San Juan, Puerto Rico) and the deepening mystery at the heart of its story. 

Essentially the low-budget version of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000) — especially nice symmetry given Spader headlined Soderbergh’s breakout smash, sex, lies and videotape (1989), right after Jack’s Back — the plot involves a human rights activist (Jeff Daniels) uncovering a web of industrial corruption while probing the suspicious deaths of two American dirtbikers and twenty-seven Mexican civilians. Though punctuated by the requisite action set pieces (because B-movie thrills), I Witness is mostly a dark, character-focused text, to the point where its serious and oppressive tone almost becomes too much to bear. It is, mind, an extremely rewarding experience – even if you’ll feel as frazzled as Daniels’ weary Samaritan by the time the credits roll…

As noted, Spader is his usual excellent self despite his role — a State Department attaché, drafted south o’ the border — being a glorified cameo. Daniels, meanwhile, is fantastic in his dogged pursuit of the truth, offering a vivid depiction of a burnout slowly realigning his spirit and his values. An ensemble film, the rest of the cast are similarly astounding. Portia de Rossi, Clifton Collins Jr., Jordi Caballero, and Wade Williams submit incredible turns as a U.S. official, a local detective, a shady police chief, and a factory bigwig respectively. That their parts are as compelling as Daniels’ is testament to I Witness’ largely brilliant script. Its sole flaws are some chintzy lines here and there. Conceived as ‘God’s Witness’, the film was written by Colin Greene and Robert Ozn; the former a vice president of Sony, the latter a synthpop musician whose film career includes working as a reader for Oliver Stone and Dimension Films. Penned in the late ‘90s, the script generated a bit of heat among the majors but failed to amount to anything. Promark finally purchased it in 2001. 

Lensed in June and July 2002, I Witness — which, during production, was called ‘Eyewitness’ — premiered on 13th April 2003 at Method Fest Independent Film Festival in Burbank, California. Cabellero was nominated for the Best Actor gong. A la The Stickup, I Witness went on to play at the Muskegon Film Festival in February ‘04. It hit video and DVD in the U.K. a few months later, on 6th September, via Mosaic Entertainment. Shelved for a spell in the U.S. due to Promark’s folding, I Witness eventually surfaced on R1 disc through Screen Media on 4th September 2007. 

USA/Germany ● 2003 ● Thriller ● 94mins

Jeff Daniels, James Spader, Portia de Rossi ● Dir. Rowdy Herrington ● Wri. Colin Greene & Robert Ozn